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Fortitude

When I first visited Edinburgh’s Fortitude in April 2014, it had been open all of four weeks. A self-titled espresso & brew bar, plus coffee merchant, Fortitude lived up to the billing back then. These days it’s added a decent food offering and has turned itself into a pretty decent roaster. Originally using London‘s Workshop and regularly-rotating guests, these days all the coffee is roasted in-house (but sadly not on-site, where there’s no room for a roaster), Fortitude sourcing some exceptional single-origins, with two options on espresso and four on pour-over through the Kalita Wave.

It helps that Fortitude’s a lovely spot in which to drink your coffee, with its high ceilings and uncluttered layout. There’s not much seating, but it’s well laid-out and very laptop friendly, with free Wifi and power outlets at every table. You’re also assured of a warm welcome from husband and wife team, Matt and Helen, although when I returned at the end of December 2018, they were off roasting. Instead I was equally well-looked after by Cristabel and Niall.

If you’re hungry, there are small breakfast and lunch menus, with a tempting selection of toast, sandwiches and soup, plus a decent range of cake.

Fortitude is at the western end of York Place, not far from the terminus of Edinburgh’s tram line. It’s a lovely little spot, up a broad flight of stairs from the street. Inside, it’s long and thin with the typical high ceilings you find in Edinburgh. The half-glazed door is on the left-hand side, Fortitude stretching away from you towards to the counter, extending forward a short way along the left-hand wall from a square opening in the back wall.

Immediately to your right, in front of the solitary (and very tall) window, is a round four-person table with chairs. Two small tables project from the right-hand wall, supported by brackets, each with three small stools that are far more comfortable than they look. Completing the seating is a bar on the left-hand wall with four tall plastic stools. The herringbone-patterned wooden parquet floor goes well with the wooden shelving and whitewashed walls and ceiling. The large window and door provide plenty of light, supplemented by neat, bare bulbs hanging from the ceiling.

The coffee merchant aspect of Fortitude is in the form of a row of Ikea-like bookshelves on the right-hand wall, holding retail bags of its coffee. There’s more coffee on the shelving above and behind the counter, with pour-over kit (carafes, pour-over filters, Aeropresses and the like) on the right.

Given its small size, Fortitude packs a lot in, with its two single-origins on espresso and four on pour-over. The form is pulled on a two-group La Marzocco Linea, tucked away through the opening in the back wall on the left, while the latter is available via a pair of Kalita Wave filters on the right-hand side of the counter.

On my first visit in 2014, Matt recommended that I try an Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Peaberry from Edinburgh’s very own roasters, New Town Coffee (who, I believe, are no longer trading) which he described as “very interesting”. I asked for a piccolo (which Matt made despite it not being on the menu), the result being, as promised, very interesting. It was a sweet coffee, the fruity notes combining well with the milk to make for an excellent cup. I think without the milk to take the edge off, it would be very far out there indeed (and not to my taste!).

On my return in December 2018, I was keen to try some of Fortitude’s coffee. I’d been fortunate to have already tried some of its filter roasts when I was in Glasgow in 2017 (I had a sample at the Glasgow Coffee Festival and a superb Rwandan pour-over at The Kaf), so I opted for something espresso-based. Of my two options, a washed Colombian and a natural Brazilian, Cristabel explained that the Colombian went better in milk, so I had that as a flat white, it’s fruity nature (surprising from a washed coffee) coming strongly through the milk.

By then I was torn. I wanted to try the Colombian as an espresso, but the Brazilian looked interesting and was also available as a pour-over. Sadly, I only had room for one more, so Cristabel offered me the Braziian on the house as espresso, which was a lovely, fruity coffee, totally unlike the typical Brazilian flavour-profile. Sadly, Fortitude was out of retail bags, otherwise I’d have bought one to take home!

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